The Dark Tower/The Dark Tower
 | |
| Written by: | Stephen King |
|---|---|
| Central Theme: | |
| Synopsis: | |
| Genre(s): | Dark fantasy, Horror, Science fiction, Western |
| Series: | The Dark Tower |
| Preceded by: | The Dark Tower/Song of Susannah |
| First published: | September 21, 2004 |
 |
"Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came."
—Robert Browning
|
 |
Preceded by Song of Susannah
The last book of Stephen King's Epic Fantasy series The Dark Tower. The end of the Dark Tower series (at least in novel form). Mia forces Susannah to birth a demon baby and Anyone Can Die as Roland takes his final steps toward The Tower.
Followed by the Interquel novel The Wind Through the Keyhole.
Tropes used in The Dark Tower/The Dark Tower include:
- Author Avatar
- Author Filibuster
- Broken Base: The ending, where the Crimson King, the main villain, turns out to be just an angry old man with some clever technology and the result of the main characters saving Stephen King is that he writes a boy with magic powers into the story so that that boy can defeat the Crimson King, is extremely controversial. Some fans think it fits in perfectly, others think it ruined the whole series.
- Book Ends
- Comedy as a Weapon: Dandelo tries this with Roland.
- Diabolus Ex Machina
- Diabolus Ex Nihilo
- Dwindling Party
- Eat the Dog: When crossing a frozen wasteland, Susannah is so cold that she eventually considers killing Oy for his fur.
- Enfante Terrible: Baby Mordred.
- Happily Ever After: "Will I tell you that these three lived happily ever after? I will not, for no one ever does. But there was happiness. And they did live."
- Late Arrival Spoiler: The ending is highly talked about, which may prove unfortunate for many prospective readers.
- New Game+: In the next Dark Tower cycle Roland gets to keep the Horn of Eld. This might be meaningful in itself, as Roland is drawn to the tune of the Dark Tower. Now that Roland has an instrument of his own he can make his own music and be free from the Tower forever.
- It may also be a nod to Roland's almost inhuman nature near the start of the books-- he has no emotions, only the Tower. Following this version of his quest, he learns some of the values of family and love and therefore spares the time to take the Horn of Eld from his dead friend's body.
- Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: A few chapters before The Climax, right before Roland is to meet up with The Crimson King and end his quest to find The Dark Tower, Susannah, the last human in his ka-tet to survive, decides to leave Roland citing his obsession with the tower and the quest over the health of his friends. Notable in that she doesn't come back to assist him at the last moment to help him defeat the Big Bad.
- Rage Against the Author
- Reset Button/Snap Back/Here We Go Again